Method of making balls



April 25, 1939. w. J. Von

METHOD OF MAKING BALLS Original Filed Jan. 7, 1956 INVENTOR MLL/AML]. l/ 7' BY Zm Arron/vex Reiuued Apr. 25, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I .ua'rnon 01 mm BALLS William J. v0, L08 M86168, Calif.

Original No.

2,127,481, dated August 16, 1938, Se.-

rial No. 95,088, August 10, 19 36, which is a division oi Serial No. 57,907, January 7, 1936.

'plication for reissue October 24, 1938,' Serial 8 Claims.

My invention relates to game balls, and relates in particular to a method of making balls, the invention being particularly adapted to the making of balls of the character of baseballs having a casing or cover enclosing a core or, center of compacted fibrous material.

Game balls of this character have been extensively manufactured with leather covers concome to be known as the baseball stitch". The

technique of games played with these balls has been in some measure developed around the characteristics of the balls. For example, a leather covered ball having a fllled center has certain characteristics of rebound, flight, and handling. When struck with a bat with a given force, the standard leather covered baseball will be impelled at a speed determined by or corresponding to its characteristics of weight, resilience,and external formation. In view of the known characteristics of commonly used baseballs, the playing field, or diamond, and the rules of play have been given a desired relationship to the characteristics of the ball with which the game is played. The presence of the seam, and its stitches, has a definite influence on the action of the ball during flight and on the ability of the player or thrower to control the same, and accordingly it may be said that the manner of preparing the external surface of the ball has become a part of the game.

It is an object of my present invention to brovide a method for making a ball of the general character set forth hereinabove, which ball may be used in the place of a standard leather" covered ball in the playing of a game of ball without changing the manner of playing or technique of the game. My new ball is characterized by being more durable and by the ability to keep its spherical shape longer than the standard leather covered ball, but has the same characteristics of flight and handling as a leather covered ball which it replaces, these characteristics being accomplished by giving the surface of the ball the same general form as found on the surface of a leather covered ball, namely, the same seams and stitching, and the same character of surface finish between the seams.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of making a game ball having 'a center of suitable composition of fibrous charlowing part of the specification.

Referring to the drawing, which is for illustrative purposes only,

Fig. 1 is a partly sectioned view showing the manner in which a mold for making my new ball may be produced.

Fig. 2 is aview showing the mold divided.

Fig. 3 is a view showing the mold reinforced and provided with aligning means.

Fig. 4 is a view in cross section showing a cen-.- ter which may be used in the making of the new ball.

Fig. 5 is a view showing the rubber pieces which are to be applied to the surface of the center.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing a manner in which the rubber pieces may be applied to the center.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing the ball in the mold.

Fig. 8 is a partly sectioned view of a preferred embodiment of my new game ball.

The first step in the practice of my invention is to form a ball I 0 having a leather cover of conventional form consisting of two cooperating pieces II and I! placed so that the edges thereof will come together at a seam or seams l3, these seams i3 being ordinarily secured by thread stitches l4 crossing back and forth between the V with metal so as to produce a metal shell l6 4 covering the entire ball 10 to a desired thickness.

The shell I 6, as shown in Fig. 2, is then divided on a medial plane, and the bali III is removed therefrom, leaving two cooperating mold parts i! and I8 consisting of the two halves of the shell IS, the interior surfaces IQ of the mold parts I! and I6 having the form or configuration imparted therto by the ball Was the result of coating the ball II with metal in such a manner that the metal fills all of the spaces or depressions in the surface of the ball. Accordingly, the-surfaces I! of the mold parts I1 and II are pebbled, as indicated at 2|, in accordance with the grain surface of the leather pieces II and I2 of the ball II, and the seams and stitches l6 and I4 of the original ball III are reresented by matrices 22 formed in the surfaces I! of the parts l1 and It. The surfaces I! are in fact negative representations of the cooperating halves of the ball l6.

As shown inFlg. 3, the mold parts l1 and I. produced by dividing the shell l6 are mounted in metal bodies 23 and 24 so as to form a mold of separable character, and dowels 25 may be provided for the purpose ofaligning the halves of the mold indicated in toto by the numeral 26.

A ball core or center is then formed. One form of such center, as shown in Fig. 4, consists of a body 26 of fibrous material, such askapok, wool,

cotton waste, etc., with a surface layer of yarn 26 wound thereon, thereby producing a ball core or center 36 nearly as large asv the original ball II. To insure the adherence of the surface portion of the center 86 to the rubber cover to be subsequently applied, a coating 21 of rubber cement is applied to the winding of yarn 29, a portion of this cement penetrating into the yarn so that it will act to bind the separate turns of yarn together as well as to cement the surfaceturns of the yarn to the rubber cover.

As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, rubber pieces II and 22 are placed upon the center 36 so as to completely cover the same. volume of the center ill, the volume of the rubber constituting the rubber pieces 6| and I2 is such that the uncured ball shown in Fig. 6 will have a volume at least as great as, but preferably slightly greater than, thevolume of the space within the mold so that when the mold is closed around the uncured ball, both the center 26 and the rubber constituting the pieces 2| and 62 will be placed under compression, thereby assuring that the rubber cover of the ball will be tight upon the filler or center 36. To make it possible to place the uncured ball shown in Fig. 8 in the mold 26 without shearing or injuring the rubber which has been placed on the surface of the center 66, the center is deformed to elliptical or egg-shaped form, so that the smallest diameter of the uncured ball will be, as indicated by D in Fig. 6, slightly less than-the diameter of the spherical cavity of the mold. The rubber pieces 3| and .32 are made from a vuicanizable rubber compound, and the piece 2| is preferably in the form of a strip which may be wound centrally around the center 26, as shown in Fig. 6, the pieces22 being preferably in the form of discs adapted to be cupped over the exposed portions of the center, as shown at 220 in Fig. 6, the pieces II and 22 being of such size that the edges thereof will overlap as indicated at 32,

The ball in its partly finished condition, as shown in Fig. 6, is then placed within the mold 26 with its equatorial plane of least diameter D coinciding with the plane of the abutting faces of the two halves 22 and 24 of the mold 26, as,

shown in Fig. 'I. As the two halves 28 and 24 of the mold 26 are brought together, the center thereof, which was previously deformed to elongated or egg-shaped form, is pressed by the mold to spherical form, and in the preferred practice With relation to the ly greater than the volume of the interior space of the mold, the result being that the center 66 will be compressed and will exert an outward force tending to hold the uncured rubber tightly against the inner faces I! of the mold during the curing process. I also contemplatein the practice of my invention the use of a gas pressure within the ball to assure that the rubber cover will be properly extended against the mold surfaces. To compensate for any slight defects in the shape of the center 26, internal gas pressure may be produced in any of the known manners now employed in the manufacture of hollow rubber goods. Before removal of theball from the mold, the gas pressure is released therefrom either by cooling the ball to normal temperature or by puncturing it with a vbleeder needle. Illustrative of the step of bleeding gas pressure from the interior of the ball prior to its removal from the mold 26, I have in Fig. 7 shown a needle 40, of the character of a hypodermic needle, projecting through an opening 4| in the wall of the mold part 24 and also through the rubber cover of the ball. The needle 46 is shown with a valve 42 associated therewith. Not only may the needle 40 be employed for relieving gas pressure within the ball before removing it from the mold, but it may be also employed as a means for initially creating a gas pressure within the ball. For example, after the uncured ball is placed in the mold 26, air under pressure may be delivered into the interior of the uncured ball through the needle 40 so as to provide the auxiiiary gas pressure within the ball which will force such portions of the rubber which have not already been forced outwardly by the center 36 into positive engagement with the interior walls of the mold 26.

In. Fig. 8, I show the finished ball 24 which now has a continuous spherical rubber cover '26 molded in place on the center and cementitiously adhering to the center :0. Under the heat of curing to-which it is subjected within the mold 26, the vulcanizable rubber of the pieces 2| and 62 is formed into a continuous homogeneous layer. The rubber cover 66 has no actual seams, but due to the curing of the same in the mold previously described herein, a surface is produced which is a replicaof the surface of the original ball III: that is, it has replicas I30 of the seams II, has replicas I of the stitches II or the threads which formed the original stitches I4, and in addition thereto has a surface 2: exposed between the replicas Ila of the seams pebbled or grained in exact duplicate of thesurfaces of the leather pieces II and i the original ball Il. This ball 24, with the exception that it has a one-piece molded rubber cover and is in this respect superiorto a leather covered ball, has all of the characteristics of the standard or conventional approved leather covered ball, and maybeusedingamesrequiringtheuseof an approved leather covered ball. It will in no manner change the playing of the game, but

will have the added advantage of retaining its shape for a maximum period of time and resisting skinning or scuffing of its surface. Havingnoseweds'eamstobebrokenbysevereusagelg s oes 3 ortobeeomeupenedbythewearingcttbe openingsaidmoldandremovingtheflniabedball theballwiillastioramuchlonger l'romsaidmold.

periodottimethanthe'approvedleathercovsred as method oi mahng a substantially solid replace. atbleticballineludingthestepsofitakinga rial. placing vulcanimble rubber cover material llshing pressure in said by means into said air-pervious core to thereby force said I is' enective, relieving said pressure, and removls rubber into intimate contact with said mold, apin: the finished ball from said mold.

plying heat to vulcanise said rubber while main- 6. A method of making a rubber covered subtaining said pressure, relieving said Pressure aftstantiaily solid article, including the steps oi:

er vulcanimtion. and removing the finished artiforming a core comprising air-pervious matecle from said mold. rial. placing vulcanizable rubber cover material I) 2. A method of making a baseball including aboutsaid air-pervious core, inserting said airthe steps 01': forming a ball-center comprlsi pervious core and rubber in a mold so that said ble air-pervious material. placing'rubrubber completely surrounds said core, the volber cover material about said ball-center, insertume of said mold being appreciablydess than mold, applying heat to vulcanise said rubber maintaining said pressin-e. relieving said presso while maintaining said pressure; relieving said sure ai'tervulcanization, and removing the tin- Pressure after vulcanization; and removing the ished article from said mold.

finished ball from said mold. 7. A method of making a substantially solid 3. A method of making a substantially solid ball including the steps oi: forming a core from ball including the steps of: forming a core from material pervious to air. placing vulcanisable :5 material pervious to air, winding a layer of elonrubber cover material around the core, insertgated iibrousmaterial about said core. .placing lng said core and rubber in a mold having a vulcanimble rubber cover material around the cavity or less volume than that oi said core and engagement with said mold. applying heat to vulcanization, opening said mold and removing 45 Julcaniae said rubber while maintaining said the finished ball from said mo pressure. relieving said pressure after vulcan- A method of making a substantially solid isation, opening said mold and removin the athletic ball including the steps oiz, taking a finished ball from said mold, completed ball-center comprising material peri 4. A method of making an indoor baseball "0118 to ll 9 he like. applying vulcanlsable u -t mp of; 30mm We fm rubber about the exterior of said ball-center,

m hm of "m t M con, plum mb volume oi said mold being appreciably less than cafiisable rubber oover aterialabout said wound 5 rubber the lace of said mold being formed with a design core,placingsaidwoundcoreandrubberina s ti ti nd b 55 mold, closing said mold, inserting a hollow nee- 0 menu pmecm was pm 10 about said air-pervious core, inserting said airother than the compressive action of the mold to v m am um Demon t m wind- PM!!! said ball-center and rubber inamold. the

"W n flnlns' l tive. relieving said pressure, and removing the ipressur relieving said pressure hrough said flnlshedbalih'omsaidmold.

needle, withdrawing said needle from said core, I WILLIAM J. vorr. 

